There are few commercially available systems or tools that provide simple and effective management, synchronization, and protection of personal data on a mobile or stationary personal computer system. One reason for this is that mobile computers are portable and do not lend themselves to stationary backup solutions such as storage subsystems or server-based backup solutions. Another reason is that personal data is often user-determined, and do not lend themselves to automated backup methods that protect data by individual storage device or file system. Third, whereas application programs for personal data management, data synchronization, and data protection are readily available, they are usually designed for specific tasks such as backup, replication, or data management, rather than an integrated data management application for operation on a portable storage device. As a result, mobile and stationary computer users have few effective alternatives for personal data management.
Simple data backup programs on portable devices can be implemented easily, but these systems are also inefficient in their use of storage space, and require either larger capacities or removable media to provide ongoing data protection.
Alternatively, protecting data with system-level backup or replication methods is complex as well as time-consuming, since most are designed for operation on a large-scale computer or network. Moreover, these methods often depend on computer infrastructure such as operating system and file system, making them difficult to install and operate for users who are not adept in management and maintenance of computer systems. Storage-conserving backup and remote replication techniques such as snapshots make near-continuous data protection possible, but require system-level software or file system to be installed on the data protection system.
Network backup methods, whether achieved over local-area or wide-area networks, are also problematic. Backup or synchronization using these connections to a remote server require initialization and authentication before the operations can be initiated, adding time and inconvenience, while also restricting mobility. Furthermore, when such operations are conducted over a wide area network with a mobile computer, connection bandwidth is often low, resulting in slow backup and synchronization.
Faced with these impediments, the personal computer user often performs personal data backup and synchronization manually, i.e. on a file-by-file basis, onto a locally attached disk drive or removable medium such as writeable CD, floppy disk, or flash-memory device. The result is that personal data protection is an ad hoc process limited to a few selected files, exposing many computer users to potentially catastrophic loss of their data.